New Delhi, October 3
A 58-year-old businessman was arrested here for allegedly duping around 4,000 people of Rs 3.5 crore by giving false allurements and inducements, the police said today.

The accused was identified as Akhtar Ansari. He was apprehended from his residence in south-east Delhi’s Pant Nagar.

“Ansari hails from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. He started carpet export business by creating a company, Anjak Overseas, at a Mumbai address in 1996. Later, due to heavy losses he planned to dupe the people along with co-accused Md Israr,” Ajay Choudhry, additional commissioner of police (south-east), said. Israr is absconding.

He allegedly created a website namely ‘Anjak Overseas’ which stated “our family has been a major business group in British Colombia for 30 years”. On the website, names of some companies, like Anjak Finance & Investment Limited and Source India Corporation were mentioned.

“He used to allure innocent people, public servants, poor people, less educated and those who are not aware of financial scams. All these elements were functioning in such a way that nobody could doubt their mischievous and malafide intentions of cheating and decamping away with hard-earned savings of innocent persons,” Choudhry said.

During inquiry from various government agencies, it has been found that the companies listed on the website of Anjak Overseas have never done any kind of business.

These companies were projected only for inducement so that by seeing the names and features of companies, the general public would invest their money, he said. — PTI

Ghaziabad, October 3
A stamp paper vendor in Ghaziabad was today allegedly robbed of a bag containing Rs 5 lakh by two motorcycle-borne assailants, whom the victim chased and subsequently retrieved the money from them, the police said.

Rajneesh Kumar, a vendor operating from tehsil compound in Ghaziabad Sadar, was attacked around 1 pm near Jain Temple in Kavi Nagar when he was on his way to the treasury to buy stamp papers.

After the assailants snatched the bag from him, Rajneesh followed them on his motorcycle.

He caught up with them at a railway crossing and succeeded in snatching his bag back, despite one of the robbers opening fire.

The vendor also snatched a pistol from one of the robbers and took shelter in a police post.

The police has announced a reward of Rs 5,000 for the intrepid vendor.

"When I jumped from my moving motorcycle, one of the robbers opened fire at me but I won the battle as they had to flee," said Rajneesh. - IANS

New Delhi, October 3
A 25-year-old resident of Khajuri Khas, Chotu, admitted to the Hindu Rao Hospital with septic dengue syndrome on Friday, died yesterday evening even as his family members alleged that the hospital didn't provide the right treatment to their patient.

Some doctors, including the head of the department of the medicine of the MCD-run hospital, had to bear the brunt of the angry relatives, in another incident a four-member team has been set up for inquiry into the death of a middle-aged man, who died last night while undergoing treatment for cardiac problem.

According to the relatives of the second deceased, a grade four MCD employee, it was the unavailability of proper medical set-up that led to the death of their patient. Following his death last night, they reached the office of medical superintendent Dr Madhur Kudesia, with their complaint. Today, the MCD health committee has set up an enquiry board, comprising four internal members of the hospital.

However, the MCD health committee chairperson Dr V K Monga said, "Chotu had just joined after a leave of 45 days. He was suffering from heart problem. The doctors did their best, but he succumbed to the heart attack. A committee has been set up and a report would be submitted in four days."

Meanwhile, the MCD has not included the casualty under the Capital's toll of dengue that as of date stands at three, besides a total 283 positive cases of the vector-borne disease.

Noida, October 3
Farmers protesting here in Uttar Pradesh, adjoining the national capital, to get their 'abadi' or residential lands regularised unconditionally on an as-is-where-is basis today accused the administration of threatening them.

"Nobody is listening to us... The CEO (chief executive officer of Noida Authority) had himself given us a letter in writing on September 20 that they would return our 600 acres of land within a week. But that has not been done," said Naresh Yadav, convener of the Sorkha Jahidabad Kisan Sangharsh Samiti.

"The administration instead of helping us, is threatening us... We don't know where to go and whom to approach," Yadav said.

"The farmers can agitate peacefully but we would not allow them to stop projects or to indulge in any violence. They can peacefully put forward their demands to the chairman of Noida Authority," said Superintendent of Police (City) Anant Dev.

The farmers of 54 villages, whose lands have been notified between 1976 and 2011, have demanded 5 per cent of the acquired land they were supposed to get. Besides, they have also asked the authorities to take back all cases registered against them

Farmers of around 54 villages yesterday threatened to stall the projects of builders to protests against the alleged inaction of the Noida Authority in meeting their demands over land takeover.

The farmers announced their plan to stall all building projects in Sectors 74-79 and 112-121. The villagers whose land was acquired for the development of Noida, also held a hunger strike on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

"The authority's CEO assured us in writing twice. We had given them time till October 2 to settle our issues but they are simply not keen to look into them," said Naresh Yadav, convener of the Sorkha Jahidabad Kisan Sangharsh Samiti.

"We are ready to face lathi charge and prepared to go to jail. There would be an indefinite strike from Monday," Yadav told IANS.

The farmers claimed that their lands were taken over by the authority at a price of Rs 2-3 per square yard and they were not provided any rehabilitation.

The farmers of Sorkha, whose lands were acquired at Rs 421 per square yard, demanded a compensation of 50 per cent of the allotment rate.

"The CEO had agreed to return 850 acres of land that was under its possession to farmers. The authority had sanctioned Rs 7 crore for a cement road around our village and approved Rs 1 crore for a marriage community centre but no work has been done at all, so far," Yadav said. - IANS

New Delhi, October 3
The New Delhi District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum receives maximum complaints against the service providers and at present it is dealing with about 7,000-8,000 cases, said food and supply minister Haroon Yusuf.

He said the forum has provided relief to more than 20,000 consumers since its beginning.

The forums in other districts do not have a good response due to unawareness about them. People should approach them if they have any consumer-related complaints.

Yusuf said under the Consumer Protection Act 1986, the Delhi government has set up one state commission and 10 district forums to redress consumers' grievances and provide relief to the users of goods and services.

Each forum is headed by the president who is appointed under the Consumer Protection Act 1986, with two members of the public having a rich experience in these matters.

The state commission has the jurisdiction to take up the claims for minimum of Rs 20 lakh and maximum of Rs 1 crore.

Services provided by the banks, insurance companies, airlines, hospitals, builders, railways, etc. are also covered by these forums.

New Delhi, October 3
Mayhem took over the Rajinder Place Metro station this evening as some passengers jumped on to the tracks to stall the services. The incident left the passengers on the Noida-Dwarka line stranded for about half an hour during the peak traffic hours. According to Metro officials, some men got into an argument with the housekeeping staff at the station and beat them up. The culprits jumped on to the tracks and stalled a train for nearly 20 minutes. The reason of the fight is still not known, the officials said.

"Four men have been arrested in the matter. One of the housekeeping employees was badly beaten up. A couple of staffers tried to intervene, but the situation was out of control. There was a lot of shouting at the platform. There were some others also, who jumped on to the tracks, but they managed to escape. All the four have been handed over to the Delhi police," said a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation spokesperson.

"Such an incident is intolerable and inexcusable. They beat up the housekeeping staff and even tried to stall the Metro services. The service was stalled on the Noida-upline towards Dwarka from about 6.20 till 6.34 pm. The services on the downline towards Noida were unaffected," he added.

New Delhi, October 3
Even though Delhi University colleges have closed their doors during October break, there are some students who are in no mood to go back home.

Students participating in the upcoming college fests say that there is no break from the preparations for the extra curricular activities (ECA) for them. At many colleges like Lady Shri Ram, Hindu, Miranda, Venkateswara and Kamla Nehru College, students have decided to keep practicing for their performances in inter college competitions and not go to their hometowns.

"We get together in college gazebos during the day and in case we cannot get permission, we meet up at friend's place and practice there. We need to strengthen our performance. If we practice during the October break, we will definitely have an edge over other teams, "said Prarthna Chaterjee, member of the dance society at Venkateswara College.

Two to three members had to drop out of the theatre society at Kamla Nehru and the president of the theatre society had to call in for auditions again for three parts in the play.

"Two people from the production team and one actor had backed off around 10 days back. We needed to audition more people. I was majorly considered about the actor since we had practiced for over a month now. So, it was important for us to run lines with the new girl and see that the entire cast is comfortable with the changes.

“Moreover, even though colleges have ended, we need to think and plan about the stage production and see if any last minute changes are needed in the screenplay," said Malvika Khurana, directing one of the theatre productions from the college this year.

For 'The Players' (theatre society) at Kirori Mal, no amount of practice is enough. The actors believe that improvement is possible till the very last practices session.

"There was no point going back home for holidays as anyhow our October break has been slashed by a week. So, we thought that we all will work together on the play and strategise, so that it is easier when the colleges reopen. It will help us not to lose out on a lot of lectures, if we can practice enough during the break," said Bharat Patnayak from the society.

Nandini Iyer, faculty member of classical music at Jesus and Mary College, said, "Our girls have been practicing. They don't always get the access to the auditorium, but they still insist on practicing. They love what they do and they aim to do it in the best way possible. We don't have any problem, in fact its better. It will lay off some pressure when classes resume after the break."

New Delhi, October 3
The Delhi government has directed all the goods transporters to get registered their establishments, failing which they will invite strict action by the department concerned.

This is being done to regulate to goods transport business and protect unwary consignment of goods.

The direction was issued under the Carriage by Road Act, 2007, and Carriage by Road Rules, 2011.

The department concerned and the local police have received a number of complaints from consumers against the transporters that has forced the government to take action and issue notices to the transporters that will bring discipline among them, a senior officer of the transport department said.

The government has delayed the notice as rules were framed recently, he said.

The notice said that no person would engage in the business of common carrier unless he had been granted a certificate of registration by the state transport authority under the Carriage by Road Act 2007.

"All concerned working as common carrier are advised to get them registered without any delay, failing which action will be taken. They will be punished for the first offence with a fine of Rs 5,000 and for the second and subsequent offence with a fine which may be extended up to Rs 10, 000."

According to an estimate, 5,500 goods transport companies operate in Delhi and have almost 75,000 branches in other parts of the country. Forty per cent of the business in the country is being handled by them with an annual freight revenue estimated to Rs 1, 60, 000 crore, the officer said.

New Delhi, October 3
They are young, footloose, creative and often handsome... Meet the GenX male writers of commercial lifestyle and business fictions who tell racy stories of love, loss, failure and dizzy success.

Some call them the writers of male chick pulp, while readers like to call them the male equivalent of Bridget Jones - the lonesome chick of 1990s who represented the mad world of singletons in search of love...

"The chick writers are changing genders. By god, they are men...," laughed V. Rosemary Ann, a 35-year-old entrepreneur and part-time model in the capital.

Ann recently stumbled upon Ajay Khullar's "The Nothing Man", a book which reminded her of "Bridget Jones's Diary", the 1996 classic.

Journalist-turned-writer Khullar describes his hero "Baru as a reterosexual, who does not have to work for a living".

Baru is not exactly evangelical. He is selfish, irreverent, laid back and well-read, desperate to complete his manuscript.

"Twelve years ago, I started writing a manuscript and could not complete it. It stayed with me. It is my story - of an unfinished manuscript," Khullar told IANS.

The writer thinks that the "25 and above" segment is his audience.

Writer Chanchaldeep Singh Sandhu, an upwardly mobile Germany-born Punjabi, has just published his urban love novel, "I Never Thought I Could Fall in Love".

The campus romance features Ronny, the playboy, who thinks he has hit a jackpot when he has sex with Miss Fresher on the Fresher's Night. But destiny seems to have its own plan and Ronnie falls in love. However, the journey from love to lust is not easy... Ronnie has to convince his lady love that he is no playboy.

"I can say only 10 per cent of the book has been inspired by my own life, the rest is fiction," Sandhu told IANS.

This is how the idea of writing a novel struck Sandhu.

"I had got my annual job appraisal and thanks to my boss, it was not on the better side of the bell curve. I was so frustrated that I shot a mail to him saying, 'a bad boss and a good wife will make you successful one day'," Sandhu said. To distract himself, Sandhu began to read a novel.

"After finishing it, I told my wife that I was feeling inspired to write," the writer recalled.

Twenty-six-year-old software engineer Ravinder Singh's novel, "But Then What Happened To Ravin", is a sequel to "I Too Had a Love Story", a contemporary tragedy.

The sequel begins from where the first one ended with Ravin's tragic love life. It picks up the hero's life when he is sent to Belgium on a project... and falls in love again.

"The first book was dedicated to the girl I could not marry. But the sequel is more fictional," Ravinder Singh said.

The metro lit trend dates back to an Indian phenomenon - Chetan Bhagat - who gave India its first chick lit, "Five Point Someone" (2004), noted Kapish Mehra, publisher of Rupa & Co.

"Five Point..." was followed by a spate of light commercial young fictions by Bhagat like "One Night @ the Call Center" (2005), "The 3 Mistakes of My life" (2008), "2 States the story of my Marriage" (2009) and "Revolution 2020", which will be released next month.

"These are basically urban stories. You can call them male equivalent of chick lit. They target across the spectrum - not only the big cities but readers in the smaller towns can identify with the books too," Mehra told IANS.

"Anurag Mathur wrote 'The Inscrutable Americans' years ago in 1991 - in a similar vein," Mehra said.

Three books published by Rupa & Co - "Resident Dormitus" by Vikas Rathi, "The Incredible Banker" by Ravi Subramanian and "Zero Percentile: Missed IIT Kissed Russia" by Neeraj Chibba - best symbolize the genre, Mehra added.

"The books appeal because of the stories and the fun element," said Vaishali Mathur, senior commissioning editor of Penguin Books India, which has an imprint "Metro Reads" dedicated to light urban fiction.

"The youth between 18 and 25 have no time to devote to heavy texts. Their attention is diverted by Internet, Facebook and cell phones. They want books which are quick, funny and easy to read," she told IANS. — IANS

Greater Noida, October 3
Some good news for the Sikh community! Gurudwara Shri Guru Nanak Dev Darbar will set up a gurdwara at Sector Alpha II here. The ceremony for the laying of foundation stone will be held on October 6.

Greater Noida Authority has allotted a plot of 643 sq mt for building the gurdwara. Kirtan and path will be performed before the neev-pathar by Hazoori ragi jatha Bhai Gurmej Singh of Darbaar Sahib, followed by langar.

Apart from the Kirtan and Gurupurb programmes, the place could be used for family functions.

A free dispensary is proposed to be set up at the gurudwara besides a library. Free primary schooling for the needy is also proposed.

The Gurdwara Prabhandhak committee has appealed to the Sikh community to assemble in large numbers on the eve of inauguration and perform kar seva.

New Delhi, October 3
A 25-year-old man Mukesh Patel was killed in Tughlaqabad Extension and another person, Vicky (32) was critically injured after they were electrocuted by a high-tension wire this afternoon.

The police has registered a case under sections 304A (causing death by negligence) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) against unknown persons at Govindpuri police station.

The police said that the incident occurred about 2.30 pm when the workers were installing a flex hoarding at the third floor of a building.

According to sources, the owner was installing the hoarding to cover up the illegal construction in the building.

"The owner will be prosecuted in the case," said a police official.

The official said that they had complained to the MCD about the illegal construction six months ago.

Sources said that Patel and Vicky were installing the hoarding on the front side of the building when the incident occurred.

"The hoarding swung in the air and its iron rods came in contact with a high-tension electric wire near the building. They got electrocuted and fell off the building. Patel and Vicky were immediately taken to the Safdarjung Hospital. Patel was declared brought dead while Vicky is recovering," said sources.